KIDS’ HIT CARTOON SERIES COMES TO LIFE WITH ACTIVISION PUBLISHING’S TRANSFORMERS PRIME™ VIDEO GAME – AVAILABLE NOW

October 30, 2012

New TRANSFORMERS Action Video Game Launches Exclusively on Nintendo Platforms Today, and on Nintendo’s Wii U™ System on November 18th

Santa Monica, CA – October 30, 2012 – The battle to protect mankind from the evil DECEPTICONS rages on in the TRANSFORMERS PRIME™ video game from Activision Publishing, Inc., a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI). Created for kids and based on the award winning animated television show produced by Hasbro Studios seen in over 170 countries and airing on The Hub television network in the U.S., TRANSFORMERS PRIME allows fans to take on the roles of OPTIMUS PRIME, BUMBLEBEE, ARCEE, AUTOBOT RATCHET and BULKHEAD as they fight through heroic battles against the DECEPTICONS all around the world. Players will engage in brawler-style combat and diverse driving sequences in order to save Earth from the sinister MEGATRON and his new secret weapon, THUNDERWING. TRANSFORMERS PRIME is available now for Nintendo’s Wii™ system, and the Nintendo 3DS™and Nintendo DS™ hand-held systems, and will be a day-one launch title for Nintendo’s new Wii U™ system launching on November 18th.

“The TRANSFORMERS PRIME television show is a fantastic series and we’re excited to bring this new adventure to Nintendo and TRANSFORMERS fans alike,” said Kurt Niederloh, Vice President, Activision Publishing.”We’ve worked hand-in-hand with Hasbro and the TV show producers to bring this all-new storyline to life with the spirit and trademark gameplay Nintendo gamers have come to know and love.”

“Our fans can now interact with the TRANSFORMERS PRIME universe and all its rich characters in a whole new way,” said Mark Blecher, Senior Vice President of Digital Media and Marketing at Hasbro. “Activision has done a great job of capturing the heart and soul of the television show and has created an engaging video game the entire family can enjoy.”

Continuing the epic saga, the game centers around an original story set directly within the TRANSFORMERS PRIME universe, allowing gamers not only to play as their favorite AUTOBOT characters, but also cultivate close friendships with Jack, Miko and Raf – the human characters from the show – as TEAM PRIME sets out to protect mankind and eliminate the DECEPTICONS once and for all. For the Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U versions of the game, players can also compete with or against their friends in adrenaline-pumping multiplayer modes that allow fans to choose from 11 different TRANSFORMERS characters from both factions.

TRANSFORMERS PRIME is developed by Now Production (NowPro) for Nintendo’s Wii system, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, and by Altron Corporation for Nintendo DS. The game is rated “E10+” (Everyone 10 and older – Fantasy Violence) by the ESRB.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, mainland China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com.

Daniel “Julius Marx” Pickett has been around toys his whole life. The first line he ever collected was Mego’s World’s Greatest Super Heroes line back in the 70s. He has been surrounded by collectables ever since.
In 1999 he was confounded by a lack of information and news about some of his favorite toy lines he was collecting. Since he couldn’t find the information he decided to pursue it himself thinking other people might also be interested in the same news. He started writing a weekly column on the toy industry and action figure for a toy news site and in a years time he tripled the sites daily traffic with his updates, reviews and product features.
He built relationships with every major toy manufacturer and many sculptors, painters and mold makers. He grew his hobby into a world wide expertise that the industry has embraced.
In 2004 he teamed up with his toy buddy Jason “ToyOtter” Geyer and they created their own website www.ActionFigureInsider.com.
Daniel has been quoted in both industry and mass media press outlets. Over the years Daniel and AFi have been sought out as experts in the field. Daniel was regularly featured on “Attack of the Show” on the G4 network as the primary contributor to their “Mint On Card” segment, and our front page has been linked to from USA Today’s
“Pop Candy” Blog twice. Daniel’s content has also been featured on MSNBC.com,
Wired.com, Fark.com, Boing-Boing, Gizmodo.com, Ain’t It Cool News, the Official
Star Wars blog, Geekologie, G4, CNet and Toy Fare magazine, among many
others. He has consulted on toy lines, books, documentaries and TV shows.
But all of that really just sounds snooty and “tootin’ his own horn” – the long and short of it is that Daniel loves toys and he LOVES talking about them.